Sheet containing and collating device



1944- R. B. MACNALISTERETAAL 2,361,698

SHEET CONTAINING AND COLLATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 2, 1943 Patented Oct'.31, 1944 SHEET CONTAINING AND COLLATING DEVICE Robert B. MacAlister andWilliam A. won, madelphia, Pa., assignors to Kee Lox ManufacturingCompany, Rochester, N. Y.,

tion of New York 8 corpora- Application December 2, 1943, Serial No.512,532

3 Claims.

This invention relates to sheet containing and collating devices, such;for example, as devices for containing and collating manifolding sheetsincluding carbon sheets and first writing and copy sheets, one object ofthe invention being to provide a simple, efllcient and convenient devicehaving the combined structure and functions of a container for a workingsupply of carbon sheets and of a collating and alining means forinterleaving carbon and first Writing and copy sheets, in an accuratelyalined stack, ready for insertion in a typing machine.

Another object is the provision of a device of the above characteradapted, by the mere opening of the container, to present the carbonsheets in a position in which the individual sheets may be quickly andconveniently grasped and slid directly into interleaved relation withthe first writing and copy sheets of the stack to be formed.

Another object is to provide such a device in which the container lid orcover itself, and its side walls, serve to receive and guide all of thecollated sheets into an accurately alined stack ready for insertion inthe typing machine.

Another object is the provision of a device of the character describedwhich tends to reduce to a minimum the handling and injury of the carbonsheets and the soiling thereby of the hands of the typist.

A further purpose of the invention is to produce a sheet collating andalining device adapted to normally hold the supply of carbon sheets inalined and flat condition and to protect and preserve them in suchcondition, ready for instant use.

Still a further purpose is to produce a carbon sheet containing andhandling device of a character adapted to promote variation in the orderin which a given carbon sheet is assembled in successive stacks, so asto distribute the wear more uniformly among the several sheets of aworking supply thereof.

To these and other ends the invention resides in certain improvementsand combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fullydescribed, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the endof the specification.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device embodying the present inventionin closed, sheet containing position;

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the sections of the device in openposition ready for assembling and collating a stack of sheets;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, sectional elevation through the sections of thedevice as shown in Fig. 2, with a stack of sheets assembled therein;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a supply of carbon sheets in a folderready for insertion in the sheet containing section of the device;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the carbon sheets, detached, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, sectional view substantially on the line 6a-Ba inFig. 5.

The invention is embodied in the present instance, by way ofillustration in a container or box, of cardboard or any other known orsuitable material, adapted for holding a supply of carbon manifoldingsheets and to be kept, in according with a common ,practice, in thedrawer of a typewriter desk, conveniently ready ior use. The containerpreferably comprises two sections, one serving as a sheet container orsupply section, indicated generally at H) in the drawing, and the othersection, shown generally at l l, serving as a combined sheet aliningsection and cover for the container, into which the first writing andcopy letter sheets and carbon sheets are assembled and collated inaccurate alinement, ready for insertion in the typewriting machine.

The sheet supply or body section ill preferably comprises a. one-piece,rectangular base portion l2, having rigidly upstanding and connectedwalls I3, i4 and IS on three sides thereof, the fourth side I 6 beingleft unwalled and open to provide a way Or passage for sliding sheetsout of the supply section Ill into the connected sheet alining sectionH.

The sheet alining or cover section II preferably comprises a rectangularbase portion l'l, having four rigidly upstanding and connected walls l8,i9, 20 and 2l. The top of side wall 2| is taped or otherwise hinged, byany known or suitable means, as at 22, to the edge of the body portionl2 of the supply section at its open side i5, as shown, thus-forming ahinge on which the section I I may be swung from the closed positionshown in Fig. 1, in which it forms a cover for the sheet holdingsection, to the open position shown in Fig. 2, in which it serves as asheet assembling and alining section, as hereafter described. Whilesection II is shown in the present instance as composed of twoadhesively connected plies of cardboard, to afford stiffness, it mayobviously be made in one-piece form, the hingedly connected sections Inand H having a construction capable of being readily and economicallymanufactured.

The present embodiment of the invention is particularly convenient forassembling and collating first writing, copy and carbon sheets, in anaccurately alined stack, ready for transfer to and insertion in atype-writing machine. For this purpose, one or more folders, as 23,containing a multiplicity of carbon sheets, 24, are placed in the supplysection It, these sheets being exposed, ready for use; by the opening ofthe cover portion, as shown in Fig. 2. The individual carbon sheetspreferably have the advantageous construction best shown in Fig. 5,being somewhat longer than the first writing and copy sheets and havingalong one end an uncoated, marginal strip, 25, with one opposite cornercut away, as at 28, to facilitate the handling of the carbon sheets, ashereafter described, without injuring the coating, or soiling thefingers of the typist, and the stripping of the carbon sheets from thestack for return in desired order to the folder in the supply section.

In the use of the device, the container or box may be placed on thetypewriter stand, and the cover or sheet alining section II swung, as bymeans of a suitable handle 21, to the open position shown in Fig. 2, inwhich the adjacent open end I6 of the supply section is slightlyelevated so as to retain the sheets against any tendency to slide out ofthe supply section. From a stack of copy sheets, convenientlyaccessible, for example, to the left hand of the typist, a copy sheet 28is placed in the section I l, in which it is guided and located inposition by the three upstanding walls i8, 20 and 2|, the section IIbeing somewhat longer than the copy sheets, as shown in Fig. 3. Thetopmost sheet, 29, from the supply section I is then grasped by itsuncoated margin 25 and slid through the open side It of the supplysection into the alining section II, in which it is guided and alinedwith the copy sheet 28, by the four upstanding walls to 2!, inclusive,of the section. A second copy sheet 30 is similarly placed on and alinedwith carbon 29 and the next carbon sheet 3| is pulled from the supplysection and similarly alined above copy sheet 30. Another copy sheet 32is similarly placed on the stack and the next carbon sheet 33 is drawnforwardly and placed on and alined with the copy sheet 32, after whichthe first writing or letter head sheet 34 is placed on the stack, all ofthe collated sheets of which are precisely alined at the sides and topsof the sheets by the side walls of the alining section I l. The stack isthen ready to be lifted bodily and inserted in the typing machine, atleast one of-the side walls, as 20, of the alining section beingpreferably cut away, as at 35, to facilitate the grasping and lifting ofthe stack as described.

After the typing of the sheets, the first writing and copy sheets aregripped at the comer 26, at which the carbon sheets are cut away, thecarbon sheets are gripped at their uncoated ends 'which project beyondthe first writing and copy sheets, and the carbon sheets arestrippedfrom or pulled out of the stack, thus leaving the first writing and copysheets for suitable disposition. The carbon sheets are then returnedtogether to the folder 23 in the supply section, and it will be notedthat they are returned in the reverse order from that in which they wereoriginally withdrawn from the supply section, sheet 33 being uppermost,instead of sheet 29. This arrangement and the varying number of sheetsemployed in successive stacks, tend to produce variations in the orderin which the carbon sheets are assembled in the stackand subjected tothe maximum wear nearest the type, with the result that the wear on thecarbons is distributed so as to increase their useful life.

It will thus be seen that the invention accomplishes its objects. Thecarbon container of usual size serves both as a holder-for the carbonsand as an assembling and alining means for interleaving th carbons withthe writing sheets. The mere opening of the box presents the carbons inposition to be quickly and conveniently slid directly into interleavedrelation with the writing sheets. The collating of the sheets isaccomplished without bending or pressing against the edges of thecarbons, thus reducing to a mini= mum the handling and injury of thecarbon sheets in use. Since the carbons need only be handled at theiruncoated edges, there is no necessity for soiling the hands of thetypist with the coating, and these advantages tend to encourage thestorage and protection of the carbons in the container, in place of thecommon practice of keeping the used carbons loo'sely in a drawer,subject to creasing and frictional wear against other objects.

The arrangement is such as to bring about a shifting of the order of thecarbons in the folder and when collated in a stack, so as to distributethe wear in typing, and in these various ways, the life of the carbonsis materially prolonged. The carbons are always preserved ready to beinstantly alined in a stack in the cover as soon as it is opened, whichsaves time and labor for the typist.

While the invention has been herein disclosed by specific reference tothe details of a preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that suchdisclosure is intended merely by way of illustration, rather than by wayof limitation, as it is contemplated that various modifications andchanges in the construction and arrangement of the parts will occur tothose skilled in the art within the spirit of the invention and thescope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A device for containing and collating letter and carbon sheetscomprising a container body section, and'a collating cover sectionnormally overlying and enclosing said body section, said body sectionhaving a, rectangular base portion with upstanding walls on three sidesthereof and its fourth side open, and said cover section having arectangular base portion with upstanding side walls on four sidesthereof arranged to enclose the side walls of said body section whensaid cover section is in closed position, the open side of said bodyportion having its adjacent base edge hingedly connected to the outeredge of a side wall of said cover section whereby said cover section,when moved to open position, is adapted to rest on a support and toelevate the hinged end of said body section thereabove so that sheetsmay be unobstructedly slid from said body section into said coversection and alined by the four walls thereof with other interposedsheets, to form a collated sheet stack, one or more of the walls of saidcover section having a portion thereof cut away for access to said stackfor lifting the same bodily from said section.

2. A device for containing and collating letter and carbon sheetscomprising a container body section, and a, collating cover sectionnormally overlying and enclosing said body section, said body sectionhaving a rectangular base portion with walls upstanding rigidly on threesides thereof to a substantially uniform height and its fourth sideopen, and said cover section having a rectangular base portion with sidewalls upstanding rigidly on four sides thereof to a substantiallyuniform height and arranged to overlie and enclose the sidewalls andopen side of said body section when said cover section is in closedposition, the open side of said body portion having its adjacent baseedge hingediy connected to the outer edge of a side wall of said coversection whereby said cover section, when moved to open position, isadapted to rest in level position on a support and to elevate the hingedend of said body section thereabove so that sheets may be unobstructedlyslid from said body section into said cover section and alined by thefour walls thereof with other interposed sheets, to form a collatedsheet stack.

3. A device for containing and collating letter and carbon sheetscomprising a container body, a collating cover adapted to overlie andenclose said body, said body having a rectangular base portion withrigid walls upstanding unobstructedly on three sides thereof to asubstantially uniform height and its fourth side open, and

adapted to loosely contact a multiplicity of carbon sheets conforming insize to said body, said cover having a rectangular base with rigid wallsupstanding unobstructedly on four sides thereof to a substantiallyuniform height and arranged to overlie and enclose the side walls andopen side of said body when said cover is in closed position, the openside of said body having its adjacent base edge hingedly connected tothe outer edge of a side wall of said cover whereby .said cover, whenmoved to open position, is

adapted to rest in level position on a support and to elevate the hingedend of sad body section thereabove so that carbon sheets may beunobstructedly slid from the elevated end of said body down into saidcover and accurately alined by the four walls thereof with otherinterposed sheets to form a collated sheet stack, one or more of thewalls of said cover having a portion thereof cut away for access to saidstack for lifting the same bodily from said section.

ROBERT B. MACALISTER.

WILLIAM A. WOLF.

